An article in this week’s The Economist talks about reserves of fossil fuels and points out existing reserves exceed what can be burned if governments stick to plans for controlling climate change. It seems many people in the business don’t expect governments to hold the line.

Another factor which may limit the value of these deposits is the marginal cost of extracting them. As we extract the most easily accessible of resources the cost of extracting the remaining resources increases. Perhaps we should calculate the costs in terms of energy. How many units of energy does it take to extract 100 units of energy? As this figure goes up it is going to reduce the energy available for other economic activity and is certain the have a negative influence on economic growth.

Those who have a religious-like faith in economics will say innovation and technology will save the day and we are bound to return to economic growth. They could be right, or partially right, but it might be wise be a little skeptical.

The costs of extracting fossil fuel reserves should be considered in determining their value and evaluating their potential contribution to the economy

There are still lots of energy resources in the crust of this planet and the energy companies will probably identify more of them. What isn’t so clear is that these resources will be available either because of government policy on climate change or the economics of extracting them.

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Cover Notes

After my first family broke up I went to the University of British Columbia and did a degree in economics because I was intrigued by the way in which money is created and because I wanted to understand the dynamics of how we exchange goods and services.

I concluded economics is mostly about relationships and we should evaluate economic policies by how they contribute to good relationships.

We have two major economic problems with which we should be dealing. The first is that while we have lots of energy and mineral resources left on this planet, we have used up the most easily accessible. Those that are left require an excessive amount of energy to extract. The second major problem is that our so-called "market" economy is largely based on legislation which restricts competition and thus allows some people an unequal share of the agricultural surplus.

To deal with these problems we need to focus our economy on a policy of sharing in the same way that families and people in small-scale societies share their food. We also need a universal guaranteed income scheme AND a new way of creating money. This would be a tremendous transfer of decision-making power from governments and bankers to individuals.

In this book you will learn:

why the economic principles of marginal cost and the elasticity of the demand curve say it should be priced at 99 cents.

why relationships are an important part of economics.

what it takes to make a good relationship.

that our civilization is based upon a huge agricultural surplus which should be considered an inheritance to be shared equally by everyone.

how the financial and the physical aspects of the economy interact.

how money is created out of thin air and the problems this creates for our well being.

how we can finance a guaranteed annual income scheme.

how to become a part of the ten percent,

how not to become a slave.

The list of ebook stores from which you may download this book is at the top of the home page.

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